Vertical file.



C. B. ULRICH.

VERTICAL FILE APPLICATION FILED OGT.28,1912.

Patented Feb.2,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

C. B. ULRICH.

VERTICAL FILE.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT,28,J912.

1,1263% Patented Feb.2,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

War/mega accordance with my invention.

()FFICE.

CHARLES B. ULRICH; OF HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN.

VERTICAL FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

Application filed October 28, 1912. Serial No. 723,042.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. ULmon, acitizen of the United States, residing at Houghton, in the county ofHoughton and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Vertical Files, of which the following is a full, clear.concise, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanyingdrawings. forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved construction for facilitating thefiling of papers of various descriptions, drawings, tracings. etc., invertical position so that they may be readily accessible for inspectionor removal when the file is open and held in compact form close togetherwhen the file is closed.

By my invention, drawings and tracings. whether of uniform size ordifferent sizes and whether bound together or separate, may convenientlybe supported in vertical position in the filing cabinet, in pockets, thenature of the support of the rods and pockets being such that when thedevice is closed therods and upper edges of the pockets are closetogether, being separated by only such an amount as may be necessary toaccommodate the usual thickness of papers or drawings that would befiled under one head, and the support for the pockets and rods is ofsuch construction that when the mechanism is opened to inspect, removeor insert papers or drawings t e pockets are in open position and thesupporting rods are separated from each other automatically by asufficient distance to completely separate the papers and drawingscontained in the file, so that any desired paper or group. of papers maybe removed or inserted without interfering with any of the othercontents of the file in any way. In this way a maximum amount ofdrawings and reference papers may be filed away and occupy a minimumamount of space when the file is closed without interfering with readyaccess to any of the contents of the file.

The several drawings illustrating my inven-tion are as follows:

Figure 1 shows in "ertical transverse sectional view a filing cabinetconstructed in Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig.3 is an enlarged detail view of one of the supporting brackets carriedby the mechanism of the cabinet. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of one ofthe pockets of the present invention. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of Fig.4.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

My filing cabinet construction, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, consists of aback piece 1, a bottom 2 and ends 3 secured together so as to form,in'conjunction with the top and front, an inclosed receptacle when thetop and front are in closed position. The front 4 is hinged to thebottom 2 at 5 and is provided near its ends with thin sheet metalsectors 6 which are secured to the front and extend just inside of theends 3 of the cabinet when the front is open. Chains 7 are providedbetween the front 4 and the ends 3 outside of the sector 6 to limit theamount of opening of the front, these chains folding up inside of thecabinet between the sectors and the ends when the front is moved to itsclosed position. The top 8 of the cabinet is hinged to the back at' 9and is provided at each end with a pair of supporting links 10 and 11extending between said end and the top of the adjacent end board 3 ofthe cabinet, these'links being pivoted together so as to support the top1n substantially vertical position and requiring a slight outwardpressure to release them when it is desired to close the cover. Stops 12formed on the links 10 prevent pressing the connecting points of thelinks inward beyond their supporting position.

Inside of each sector 6 and near the end of the front 4 a bracket 13 issecured to which one end of a lazy tong arrangement of metal bars 14 ispivoted, the other end of which is pivoted at 15 to a bracket 16 securedto the back board 1 near its upper edge. The bars 14 are, of course,similar and pivoted together at their mid points and at their ends, theeffect of the construc tion beingthat the mid points or pivots arerigidly supported against vertical displacement for any position of the.front board 4 relatively to the rest of the cabinet. At each of the midpoints of the bars 14 metal supporting clips 17 are secured, being heldin place by the same rivets which pivotally secure the bars 14 together.Each of these clips 17, as indicated more clearly in Fig. 3, has formedon its lower edge an outstanding flange 18 having therein two recessesfor re- 4 of the parts permitted by the cross-tubes 21 ceivin the endsof the two supporting rods 19 a 20.. The bars 14 at one end of thecabinet are held in proper relation to the corresponding bars'at theother end of the cabinet by means of cross tubes 21 supported in linewith the mid points of the corresponding bars 14 by rods 22 extendingthrough them and riveted over the outside bars 14 to constitute thepivot connections for said bars, as indicated in Fig. 2. Each of thebars 19 and is of such a length as to be readily inserted and removedfrom between the metal bars 14 into the supports or saddles formed bythe flanges 18, said flanges being long enough so that the spring willnot permit the bars 19 and 20 to drop out of place;- Y w For the supportof papers, drawings and the like, I employ pockets to be suspended fromthe rods 19 and 20. Each pocket, as

' shown in Figs. 4 and'5, is of any suitable flexible material as fabricof one land or another and, in this case, the supporting rods 19'and20-are secured in the upper edges of secured to the outside of the mainportion.

. 25 of the filing" pocket, said springs being conformed so as tonormally occupy a curved position, as indicated in Fig. 5, thus holdingthe-fabric or material of the pocket 25 in position to engage with someamount of friction the papers or drawings contained in the pocket whenthe file is closed. I

'-'When the front board 4 of the cabinet is closed, the cross-bars andpockets are brought into close relation to each other and the entirecontents of the cabinet are moved closely together in compactarrangement, as a result of which the maximum thickness of the cabinetfrom front to rear is available for filing papers, it not beingnecessary to have any unoccupied space'between the papers when thecabinet is closed., In order to hold the front and top of the cabinet inclosed position, a. lock 30 may be secured to the'upper edge of thefront board 4 in position to receive a catch 31 carried by the undersideof the cover 8 and when the catch is held in place in the lock the frontboard 4 cannot be. opened and the cover 8 cannot be raised..fThe sectors6 are provided so that the contents of the cabinet cannot project Ibeyond the front board and be caught between the ends of the front boardand the front edges of the ends of the cabinet when it is attempted toclose the cabinet and,

my invention, when it is desired to construct a simple file,particularly adapted for temporary use, that the cabinet may bedispensed with, in which event the lazy tong arrangements are supportedpreferably from but one end by means of suitable devices so that theywill constitute outwardly extending brackets disposed in substantiallyparallel arrangement, suitable cross-bars being provided, extendingbetween similar points on the la'zy tong arrangements,

for reinforcing them .and supporting the papers or drawings to be filedas described above.

While I have shown but two reinforcing rods 21 between the two lazy tongarrangements, it will be understood that as many of these cross-rods mav be employed as desired and that they may consist either of.the rod andtube arrangement particularly described, or any equivalent constructionand, furthermore, the cloth pockets 25 may, if desired, be supporteddirectly from thesereinforcing rods 21 without the use of the supportingbars 19 and 20.

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment hereindescribed. I.

do not, however, limit myself to this particular construction. as I mayemploy other equivalent constructions without departing from the spiritof my invention.

It will be noted that the closed bottoms of the pockets are above thebottom of the case or cabinet and are entirely free therefrom. This is avery important feature of the present invention because it permits ofthe sheets extending entirely to the bottom of the pocket in a smoothand straight condition, which would be impossible if the bottoms of theflexible pockets should strike the bottom of the case or cabinet andcrumple or fold up thereon.

What -I claim is:

1. In a file, the combination of a series of vertical pockets open attheir upper ends, a series of transverse members from which the pocketsare suspended, each pocket having one wall suspended from a transversesupporting member and its opposite wall suspended from the nextsuccessive transverse supporting member, said supporting members beingmovable in directions tofront pockets, and means connecting thetranspended from the next successive transverse supporting member, saidsupporting members being movable in directions to front and rear of theseries to open and close the pockets, and a lazy tong device connect--ing the transverse members in series to successively separate and drawtogether the transverse members by manipulation of the lazy tong device.

3. In a file, the combination of a series of vertical pockets open attheir upper ends, a series of transverse members from which the pocketsare suspended, each pocket having one wall suspended from a transversesupporting member and its opposite wall sus pended from the nextsuccessive transverse supporting member, said supporting members beingmovable in directions to front and rear of the series to open and closethe pockets, means connecting the transverse members in series forseparating and drawing together the transverse members, and

springs normally tending to hold the sides of the pockets togetheragainst the contents thereof.

4. In a file, the combination of a series of vertical pockets open attheir upper ends, a

series of transverse members from which the pockets are suspended, eachpocket having one wall suspended from a transverse supporting member andits opposite wall suspendedfrom the next successive transversesupporting member, said supporting members being movable in directionsto front and rear of the series to open and close the pockets, a lazytong device connecting the transverse members in series to succeSS'lYQl)separate and draw together the transverse members by manipulation of thelazy tong tending to hold the sides of the pockets together against thecontents thereof.

In a file, the combination of a series of vertical pockets open at theirupper ends, a series of transverse members from which the pockets aresuspended, each pocket having one wall suspended from a transversesupporting member and its opposite wall sus-v pended from' the nextsuccessive transverse supporting member, said supporting mem bers belngmovablein directions to front and rear of the series to open and closethe pockets. means connecting the transverse members in series forseparating and (trait-' mg together the transverse members, and springscarried by the sides of the pockets device, and springs normally andtending normally to hold said sides to gether against the contents ofthepockets. 6. A file comprising a series of vertical flexible pock'etssuspended from their tops and open at their upper ends for the intro-.

duction and removal of sheets, andspring means tending to force togetherthe sides of each pocket to grip the contents of the pocket between itssides.

7. A file comprising a series of vertical flexible pockets suspendedfrom their tops and open at their upper ends for the introduction andremoval of sheets, and spring means exterior to each pocket and tendingto force together the sides of each pocket to grip the contents of thepocket between its sides.

I 8. A file comprising a series of vertical flexible pockets openattheir upper ends for the introduction and removal of sheets, and springmeans carried upon the exterior of each pocket and tending to forcetogether the sides of each pocket to grip the contents of the pocketbetween its sides.

9. A file comprising a series of vertical flexible pockets open'at theirupper ends for the introduction and removal of sheets, and upright bowedspring strips secured to the exterior of each side of each pocket andtending to force together the sides of the pocket to grip the contentsthereof between said sides.

10. A file comprising a pair of substantially parallel lazy tongdevices, clips hung upon the fulcrums of the crossed members of the twolazy tong devices, each clip having a pair of seats, cross bars havingtheir ends supported in the corresponding seats of opposite clips, andpockets suspended from the cross bars, each pocket having one wallsuspended from a cross bar on one clip and its opposite wall suspendedfrom a cross bar on the next adjacent clip, whereby the pockets will beopened and closed by the opening and closing of the lazy tong devices.

11. A file having an upright flexible pocket open at its upper end andalso suspended from its top, the closed bottom of the pocket being freeand unsupported, and spring means pressing against the exterior of theoppositesides of the pocket and tending to force the sides of the pockettogether to grip material therebetween.

12. A file having a series of flexible upright pockets 0 en at theirtops, and a lazy tong device roinwhich-the pockets are suspended and bywhich the pockets are opened and closed, the closed bottoms of thepockets being free and unsupported.

0 and closed, the closed bottoms of the pockets being above and out ofcontact with the bottom-of the case. I I

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 26th day ofOctober A. D., 1912.

CHAR-LES B. ULRICH.

\Vitnesses "LEONARD W. NOVANDER.

LESLIE W. FRIOKE.

